3 takeaways from the Canucks’ 5-3 season opening victory
The Vancouver Canucks returned to action last night starting the 2021 NHL season against the Edmonton Oilers. Here are three takeaways from the game.
Vancouver Canucks hockey is back!
The Canucks entered Rogers Place in Edmonton looking to start the season on a high note. Last year, the Oilers and the Canucks split their season series at two apiece with Vancouver outscoring their opponent 13-10. Pitted against Connor McDavid and their Alberta rivals 10 times in 2021, the Canucks knew it wouldn’t be easy to do it again.
A handful of exciting players made their debut for the Canucks last night. Forward Nils Hoglander and defenceman Olli Juolevi as rookies, and goaltender Braden Holtby, and defencemen Nate Schmidt and Travis Hamonic as veterans.
There was certainly a lot going on in this matchup and even more to digest. For the first game of the year, it was a bit of a sloppy start, but other than that, it was a back and forth affair that was fast and very entertaining. Let’s dive into three takeaways from the Canucks 5-3 victory.
Horvat picks up right where he left off
It’s like Bo Horvat never left the bubble.
The Canucks’ captain was right back at it and looking like he’s already in mid-season form. The 25-year-old who scored 10 goals in the 2020 NHL Playoffs opened the scoring for the Canucks from a pretty play off the rush.
Right down Main Street, Horvat walked in all alone off a tape-to-tape feed from winger Tanner Pearson. With time and space, he was able to bring the puck to his forehand before lifting it past Mikko Kostinen and across the goal line. It was much like some of the goals that he scored in the playoffs — a goalscorer’s goal.
Cranking it up a notch in the absence of Miller, Horvat finished the contest with two points (one goal, one assist), four shots on goal, and a plus 1 rating. Talk about making an instant impact.
Boeser’s wrist shot is back
If Brock Boeser‘s rookie wrist shot was ever considered to be lost forever, it sure isn’t anymore. The Canucks’ sniper that scored 29 goals in just 62 games back in 2017-18 showed big signs of a return to his old ways.
What started out to be a fairly quiet night for Vancouver’s first line, ended with a flurry of offence, specifically from No. 6 himself. The Canucks let the Oilers tie the game right out of the third period gate, but after that is when the Canucks regained control.
After Adam Gaudette got the Canucks another lead, a few plays later, a wide-open Boeser received the puck and had the space to take his time and pick a corner to beat Koskinen. It was similar to his famous rookie snipe against Carey Price. Take a look.
He didn’t stop there. The 23-year-old right-winger went right back to work with a goal off the rush. Speeding down the right side, Boeser put everything he had into another wrist shot cleanly beating the Oilers goaltender glove side once again. As Canucks Twitter would put it, “Sniping season is underway.”
https://twitter.com/Canucks/status/1349590324415369216
Boeser was the best offensive player of the night for either team. He finished the game with two goals, four shots on net and dished out two hits in 17 minutes of ice time. A great start for someone who has faced criticism in the past for not being a consistent goal scorer. It looks like he’s here to finally put that argument to bed.
Hoglander shines in his NHL debut
What an NHL debut…
Hoglander is an impressive hockey player for such a young kid and he made it very clear he’s ready to be an NHL player. His debut really couldn’t have gone much better than it did. Starting his NHL career next to the Canucks’ captain, Hoglander was on the ice for the opening faceoff and it wasn’t long until he was showcasing his skill-handling.
Getting first unit power play time in place of the currently quarantined J.T. Miller, Hoglander got involved down low, found positioning, and had a quick tip in front go off his stick and nearly beat Koskinen.
Later in the second period, Hoglander put himself on the scoresheet in an incredible fashion. Walking across the blueline, the 20-year-old glided towards the net and snapped one home after a quick pass from Tanner Pearson. A nice goal to start off his NHL career.
Hoglander finished the game being plus 2, he registered three shots on net, he potted his first NHL goal and he did it with over 16 minutes of ice time. Another big plus for Hoglander was that he seemed to fit right in next to Horvat and Pearson, not only in the offensive zone but the defensive end as well.
It may be too early to tell, but from how he looked last night, he could very well be another Canucks rookie that breaks out and has a really good campaign. With Horvat entering his prime and centring Hoglander’s line, he has the ability to help Hoglander rack up some serious points.
Newsworthy notes
- Juolevi gave up a bad turnover in the defensive end that cost the Canucks a goal, but overall he had a solid regular-season debut. He was sheltered to just 10:16 of time on ice, but he finished the game even and added a hit and one blocked shot to his stat sheet.
- Holtby’s debut wasn’t perfect, but he wasn’t bad either. A couple of the goals he let in were questionable, but if it wasn’t for his five timely stops against McDavid, the Canucks probably would have lost this game.
- Hamonic was solid considering he had just one full practice in training camp. His rust was noticeable as he took two penalties on the night, but his conditioning held up (19:55 TOI) and he also put three shots on target.
- Schmidt fell quickly to the ice after taking a hard deflection off the face/neck area. He managed to stay in the game logging 24:18 on the ice time and blocking 4 shots.
- Quinn Hughes put up two assists, one of which was after he was down and out on the ice. While sitting on the ice with his legs pressed together and stretched out in front of him, he somehow managed to reach out with his stick and get the puck to an open Boeser.
Final thoughts…
As a team the Canucks battled it out and grinded for a full 60 minutes. There were some nice goals and there were some forgettable mishaps, but most importantly the Canucks found a way to win. The priority against Edmonton always has to be the need to shut down the NHL’s most dominant player, and they did that last night.
The puck drops again tonight at 6 PM. Hopefully, Vancouver can have a repeat performance.